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Tamil family will on Monday make another bid to stay in Australia

A Tamil family who were taken from their Queensland home when their visas ran out will on Monday make another bid to stay in Australia.

June 24, 2018: Supporters of the family have staged a number of rallies calling for the family to be allowed to stay in Australia.
June 24, 2018: Supporters of the family have staged a number of rallies calling for the family to be allowed to stay in Australia. Source: AAP

A Tamil family who were taken from their country Queensland home after their visas were not renewed and have since spent months in immigration detention are continuing their fight to stay in Australia.

Nadesalingam and Priya came to Australia separately by boat in 2012 and 2013 in the wake of Sri Lanka's civil war, and settled in the small town of Biloela on a temporary bridging visa, which ran out in March.

The couple and their two young daughters have been detained in Melbourne since, and will on Monday appeal a Federal Court decision in hopes they can return their central Queensland home.

Lawyers for the family will argue the Immigration Assessment Authority did not follow due process in its review of their case by not providing full recordings of their interviews to the representative of former home affairs minister Peter Dutton.

"They've been detained for such a long time, they're very anxious and their mental health is not what it should be either," lawyer Kajaliny Ranjith said.

Priya and Nadesalingam and their two Australian-born children.
Priya and Nadesalingam and their two Australian-born children. Source: AAP

"They haven't lost hope yet, they're still faithful that they will go back home."

The family is being held in immigration detention in Melbourne after Border Force officials removed them from their home during a dawn raid on March 5, giving them 10 minutes to pack.

The Biloela community and supporters have rallied around the family.


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